ABSTRACT
The REServoir CONservation (RESCON) approach, initially published in 2003 by the World Bank, has proved a valuable tool for rapid assessment of reservoir sustainability and identification of technically feasible and economically optimal sediment management techniques. Since, understanding of reservoir sedimentation management strategies and the impact of climate change on the need for storage improved, prompting the World Bank to update the RESCON approach. The revised model is now capable of performing rapid assessment of the technical feasibility and economic optimality of catchment management, deposits removal and sediment routing. The sediment deposits are allocated among active and dead storage pools. The issue of climate change and its impact on reservoir sediment management is addressed through a sensitivity analysis, which allows the user to identify possible risks. Finally the economic appraisal has been complemented by the concept of a declining discount rate in order to account for the nature of reservoir storage as a renewable resource. The paper presents the new capabilities that have been recently added to the RESCON approach and provides an illustration of the model performance with regards to the case study of PB Soedirman reservoir in Java, Indonesia.
